text:
Energy conservation isn't just for summers any more
Last summer when the antinuclear movement was receiving a lot of media coverage, the government and utilities justified their plans for reopening nuclear power plants with statistics purportedly showing how dangerously close to capacity electricity usage is in the summer, when everyone has their air conditioners on. Thanks to energy conservation efforts on everyone's part there were no overloads, but in terms of households, reibo (cooling) only accounts for 2 percent of overall energy usage when measured in calories. Danbo (heating), on the other hand, accounts for 25 percent of home-energy usage.
Of course, there are various methods for heating homes in Japan. In addition to electricity, there is natural gas, liquid propane gas and kerosene (toyu), but electricity has been increasing in recent decades as a means for home-heating. Between 1980 and 2005, the use of kerosene, which is utilized in space-heating "stoves," declined from 71 to 45 percent in terms of heating needs in the Kanto area, while both natural gas and LPG increased from 21 to 35 percent and electricity from 8 to 20 percent. However, when you factor in all of a home's energy needs — cooking, lighting, bathing, etc. — electricity accounts for 50 percent, kerosene 17 percent, natural gas 20 percent and LPG 10 percent of household energy consumption. That was for all homes in Japan in 2009. In 1973, electricity only accounted for 28 percent of overall household energy usage. So with the promotion of all-electric houses in recent years, the overall portion of home heating by electricity has probably gone up even more.
The peak period for electricity usage in the wintertime is between 5 and 6 p.m., and during the current sharp cold spell, electricity usage as reported by Tokyo Electric Power has been over 90 percent during the peak time slot. The main difference between wintertime and summertime is that power plants reduce capacity in the winter, so 90 percent represents less power usage in the winter than it does in the summer. Most air conditioners run on electricity, but as shown above heating systems use a variety of methods, so electrical usage is deemed to be less. But since electricity usage in the winter is on the increase, why aren't power companies warning people to cut back when the usage gets close to the limit, as they did last summer?


text:
Facebook's stock bounces backSeptember 5, 2012: 10:52 AM ET
Shares of Facebook (FB) rebounded from an all-time low Wednesday, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he'd be holding onto his shares for at least a year.
Ever since Facebook went public in May, the stock has struggled to gain traction as investors worry about the social network's mobile strategy and how much pressure will come from the expiration of multiple lock-up periods (when insiders can sell their shares).
But after the market closed Tuesday, Facebook announced via an SEC filing that Zuckerberg would not sell any of his nearly 444 million shares for at least another year. He has an option for another 60 million shares, which he also won't sell for now.
Related: Zuckerberg won't sell his Facebook stock for a year
The company further said it would keep 101 million of employees' shares off the market when they're eligible to be sold on October 29. Even with those shares withheld, there's still another 234 million shares that will be freed up to be sold to the public on that day. And investors continue to fear how much more pressure those additional shares will put on the already beleaguered stock.
As of Wednesday morning, the 'just how low can it go' question that's dogged Facebook's stock since its May debut has been answered temporarily at least: Tuesday's intraday low of $17.55.>
The stock bounced nearly 4% Wednesday but it's barely above $18. That's more than 50% below the $38 a share at which Facebook priced its IPO.
Groupon (GRPN), the other much-hyped social media company that's followed Facebook's ill-fated post-IPO trajectory, also hit a new all-time low Tuesday. The stock continued to drift lower early Wednesday.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Cheramie Viator
Successful cattlemen "wear many hats." Throughout the year we change our "hats" according to our production season and cycle. Many of us change hats several times a day as we go from being a cowman to hay producer and more. The big question is, how often do you wear your marketing and salesman hat?
Truthfully, marketing and sales are probably two of the most neglected topics for cattlemen. Most seedstock producers spend more time on marketing and sales than commercial cattlemen, but in the end, sale day is our biggest payday and yet it's where we spend minimal time and effort!
While both affect our bottom line, most cattlemen don't realize there is a significant difference between marketing and sales. We must be good at both. Understanding this difference is key to your success.
Marketing is about strategy and telling the story of your cattle operation. Your marketing pieces should be informative and describe things such as your ranch history, genetics, vaccination program and management philosophy. Marketing efforts can be more long term in vision and reach across print media, websites and verbal descriptions.
Sales, on the other hand, matches your customers' needs with your end product—feeder calves, bulls, bred heifers, etc. This process is where you offer your product and attempt to fill the needs of the buyer. Sales consists of a much more direct, targeted effort than marketing but also enlists more personal persuasion.
In the end, selling cattle should be a result of both marketing and sales efforts. But understand that marketing builds opportunities for sales to occur.
Measurable actions. Let's get specific on marketing and sales for cattlemen. For a commercial cattleman who annually sells calves at weaning at the local sale barn, a flyer posted several weeks prior to selling would be an easy start. This marketing effort would describe the calf crop in terms of genetics, vaccinations, type, etc.
The sales part would include a phone call to the sale barn owner, feeder calf buyer or feedyard to learn of their needs and, in the same call, describe the calves for sale. Some of the most profitable cattlemen I work with send a postcard to past and potential feeder calf buyers to remind them when their calves will sell. Remember, it only takes one additional bid to make more money.
I enjoy marketing more than sales. My personality makes it easy for me to tell the story of a program. However, I've learned to be more effective at sales. When selling bulls, I ask about the customer's marketing end point, cowherd genetic base, environment and feed resources. From this I can make better suggestions on bulls they purchase.
Often I hear "I'm not good at it" and "I don't have time for marketing." My reply is simple: You can choose to not be good at it, or you can make small efforts that might bring substantial returns.
Marketing builds the foundation upon which you make sales happen. It doesn't matter if you are selling widgets, hay, hamsters or cattle, the principles are the same. My challenge to you is to be a price setter, not a price taker, through better marketing and sales efforts.
Specializing in genetics and marketing, Cheramie takes a big-picture approach to herd management. A native of Louisiana, she has worked all across the country to help ranchers maximize opportunities. Contact Cheramie:
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cheramie.viator


text:
"This is Evie's first retail experience. They have her managing lingerie.
"Yesterday, they had a corporate head guy come through at 10 am. The store manager told her at 8am there was to be this surprise inspection at 10 and unfortunately the night crew had left 5 full carts of merchandise in her department to be tagged and shelved. He knew it was not fair, but he needed it done.
"She got it done, but just as the head guy was coming to her department here comes a woman with 5 unruly kids. Knocking over the racks, grabbing the bras and screaming "look mom I have boobs". Horrified store manager got the bigwigs to move on while kids continued to destroy department. Mom of the kids went into melt down and started beating them all with both her purse and one she grabbed off a rack.
"An hour later, while trying to help an elderly woman on a cane, who could not find the type of bras from her day... Evie innocently asked 'well could you try and describe it to me so I can help you find something like it'. The woman lifted up her shirt to show her the bra she wanted.
"Welcome to retail."


text:
I often talk with people who are losing weight, but it's not fast enough. The question is, "I'm losing weight, but I want to lose faster. What can I do?"
It might be a question you have too.
Before I answer the question, I need to repeat the warning about losing weight fast. This only applies to you if you're not under a doctor's supervision.
If you're losing weight under a doctor's care, particularly a bariatric physician, your doctor is your most reliable source of healthy weight loss speed for you.
If you're healthy and losing weight without the supervision of a doctor, the safe rate of weight loss is conservative.
In the first few weeks you might lose quite a lot because you're losing water weight. After the first three weeks the safe rate is no more than 2 pounds per week on average. Studies have shown that losing at a rate faster than that could put you at risk for heart beat irregularities, anemia, excessive loss of lean body mass (muscle), bowel irregularities and gallstone formation.
If you're losing an average of two pounds a week, you're making good and safe progress. It's not recommended that you try to make it faster. If you're losing weight with a physician's supervision your doctor will be monitoring your health as well as your progress. Follow your doctor's orders.
For those of you who are losing without a doctor's supervision, here are a few things to consider.
1. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
Before you go making changes in eating and exercise to speed up your weight loss, think about current compatibility. In other words, how compatible are your current weight loss practices with your life. Has it been necessary to drastically change your routines to enable you to lose weight?
- Are you often hungry?
- Do you feel deprived?
- Are you spending so much time exercising you have had to give up other activities such as sleeping or spending time with friends?
If you're losing weight and you're answering "no" to these questions it means your weight loss actions are a good fit with your life. It also suggests that you will be able to continue these actions as a means of weight maintenance. Wouldn't it be great to get to goal and be able to stay there once and for all?
Losing weight faster will mean that you will have to further restrict your calories and increase your exercise. While it might be okay to do this for a little while, it might not be how you want to live. You might lose weight safely and faster, but your faster weight loss could reduce your chances of keeping off that weight.
2. Faster this week, but what happens next week?
Watch out for the weight loss pendulum! You want to lose weight fast and you're willing to take bold moves to make it happen.
Well, at least, this week you can make bold moves and they pay off. You get a reward when you step on the scale. The next week, though, you have a little slip. You aren't concerned because you have slipped before and got right back on track. This slip is different. It turns into a major, way-out-of-control disaster that you can't seem to stop.
Sticking to a strict diet and vigorous exercise schedule for a week or two isn't so difficult, but week after week is a different story, especially if you struggle with perfectionism. You might find that if you can't stick with it perfectly, you perfectly lose all control!
It can become easy to swing from highly restrictive action to those that are overly indulgent – no balance or moderation, just one extreme or the other. The 4 pound loss this week, could be a 4.2 gain the following week. All that swinging pendulum action may quickly leave you heavier than when you started.
3. If you don't throw enough logs on the fire, the fire burns slower.
What does that mean? Think about a campfire. If you don't keep feeding it with logs, it burns slower and slower. That is analogous to cutting calories and your metabolism. Cutting too many calories can cause your metabolism to slow during weight loss. It's because your body becomes more efficient sustaining itself. It requires fewer calories to perform the necessary daily functions for survival (breathing, circulating blood, and regulating body temperature).
It won't stop your weight loss, but eventually you will start to lose more slowly despite you strict adherence to your rigid plan. If that happens you might be tempted to jump start your weight loss by working even harder at cutting calories and more exercise. That's a mistake!
When you severely restrict calories you are also reducing the nutrients your body is getting. If you let your guard down you might also overeat and find it hard to stop until you have gained back more than the weight you lost.
Maybe it won't threaten your health to speed up that progress a bit, but what if you're risking long-term weight management for speedier weight loss. Is it worth it?
So if you're losing an average of two pounds a week you're doing a great job of sticking to a sensible weight loss plan!


text:
THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
A few years ago I was speaking at a conference in Raleigh, NC where Ted Neward and I found a fun way to promote a Java vs. .NET debate that was planned one evening. We stood in the middle of a crowd during one of the breaks and starting "arguing" about Java vs. .NET with one another. Our voice levels quickly raised and we ended it by slapping each other across the face with a glove to request a challenge. It was a great way to segue to our announcing of the actual debate planned later that evening. As you can imagine, it is a lively topic, with many folks taking extreme positions.
And so I found out about another highly debatable topic that is happening soon. Red Gate is sponsoring a live debate entitled "Oracle Heap Tables or SQL Server Clustered Indexes?". Jonathan Lewis and Grant Fritchey will be "duking it out" on Thursday 7th June 2012 at 11:00 AM EDT (17:00 CEST, 16:00 BST, 10:00 CDT, 08:00 PDT).
To read more about the event, please visit: http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-source-control/webinar-oracle-heaped-tables-sql-clustered-indexes.
To register for the event, please visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/270039946
The live webinar is free of charge, but spaces are limited, so register soon!
I have been very remiss in posting lately. Unfortunately, much of what I do now involves client work that I cannot post. Fortunately, someone asked me how he could get a formatted list (e.g. tab-delimited) of files with GPS data from those files. He also added the constraint that this could not be a new piece of software (company security) and had to be scriptable.
I did some searching around, and found some techniques for extracting GPS data, but was unable to find a complete solution. So, I did a little PowerShell programming this weekend and came up with this script (below). It is not the most elegant of solutions, but it worked as expected.
Something of note: I was first lead down the path of searching for GPS data in the EXIF by looking for the property with an ID of 34853, but none of my files that appeared to have GPS data (according to file properties in Windows 7) contained an EXIF property with this ID. So I did a little spelunking and found that the following IDs are also used for GPS data:
Once I sorted this out, it was time to start writing some PowerShell script. Once I got the core functionality working, I added some additional features (recurse folders, include/exclude files with no GPS data, and so on) to the script and cleaned up the code and comments. Enjoy…
PARAM([String]$FolderPath = "",
[String]$OutputFileName = "FileList.txt",
[String]$IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput = "N",
[String]$RecurseFolders = "N",
[String]$Delimiter = "`t",
[Int32]$UpdateCount = 100)
# These are the parameters for the command line
# Syntax:
# GetImageGPS2.ps1
# -FolderPath "<Enter your folder path here>"
# -OutputFileName "<output filename here>" (Default "FileList.txt")
# -IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput "<Y or N>" (Default "N")
# -RecurseFolders "<Y or N>" (Default "N")
# -Delimiter "<Single Character>" (Default [tab])
# -UpdateCount <Show status after number of rows> (Default 100)
# Example:
# GetImageGPS2.ps1
# -FolderPath "c:\Pictures"
# -OutputFileName "MyGSPFiles.txt" (Default "FileList.txt")
# -IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput "N" (Default "N")
# -RecurseFolders "Y" (Default "N")
# -Delimiter "," (Default [tab])
# -UpdateCount 50
# The extension of the files we will be searching
$jpg = "*.jpg";
# So we can see how long this is taking
$startTime = [DateTime]::Now
# Captilize $IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput parameter
$IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput = $IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput.ToUpper();
# Check for 'N' or 'Y' in $IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput - if not, assign 'N'
if (($IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput -ne 'Y') `
-and ($IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput -ne 'N'))
$IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput = 'N';
# Captilize $RecurseFolders parameter
$RecurseFolders = $RecurseFolders.ToUpper();
# Check for 'N' or 'Y' in $RecurseFolders - if not, assign 'N'
if (($RecurseFolders -ne 'Y') `
-and ($RecurseFolders -ne 'N'))
$RecurseFolders = 'N';
# Check to see if a filename has been supplied for the output file
# If not, use a default name 'FileList.txt'
if ($OutputFileName -eq '')
$OutputFileName = 'FileList.txt';
# Check to see if a folder path has been supplied
if($FolderPath -ne '')
# Check to see if a valid folder path has been supplied
if((Test-Path($FolderPath)) -eq $true)
# Trim the folder path
$FolderPath = $FolderPath.Trim();
# Check to see if the trailing backslash (\) is present, if not, add it
if($FolderPath.Substring($FolderPath.Length-1, 1) -ne '\')
$FolderPath += '\';
# Tab delimiter
if (($Delimiter -eq '') -or ($Delimiter.Length -ne 1))
$d = "`t";
$d = $Delimiter;
$ErrorCount = 0;
# Create output file variable with full path of folder being searched
$OutputFilePath =($FolderPath + $OutputFileName);
$OutputFilePathErrors =($FolderPath + $OutputFileName + '.ERRORS.txt');
# Create output file in folder being searched
New-Item $OutputFilePath -ItemType 'File' -Force;
New-Item $OutputFilePathErrors -ItemType 'File' -Force;
# Create file header row and write to output file
$FileHeader = '"FileName"' + $d + '"LonEW"' + $d + '"LatNS"' + $d `
+ '"LonDegrees"' + $d + '"LonMinutes"' + $d + '"LonSeconds"' `
+ $d + '"LatDegrees"' + $d + '"LatMinutes"' + $d + '"LatSeconds"' `
+ $d + '"AboveSeaLevel"' + $d + '"Altitude(meters)"';
$FileHeader | Out-File -FilePath $OutputFilePath;
'FILES NOT PROCESSED DUE TO ERROR' | Out-File -FilePath $OutputFilePathErrors;
# Get the files in the directory
if ($RecurseFolders -eq 'Y')
$files = Get-ChildItem ($FolderPath + '*') -Include $jpg -Recurse;
$files = Get-ChildItem ($FolderPath + '*') -Include $jpg;
# Set initialize file counter variables
[Int32] $fileCount = 1;
[Int32] $fileCountWithGPS = 0;
[Int32] $fileCountWithPartialGPS = 0;
Write-Host 'Processing has begun...';
# Iterate through the files
foreach ($file in $files)
# Resolve the path to the image file
$filename = `
[String](Resolve-Path ($file.DirectoryName + '\' `
+ $file.Name.Replace("[", "``[").Replace("]", "``]")));
# Create new image object from image file
# Write filename to error log if image create fails
$img = New-Object `
-TypeName system.drawing.bitmap `
-ArgumentList $filename;
$filename | Out-File -Append -FilePath $OutputFilePathErrors;
$ErrorCount += 1;
# Set variables for processing
$out = '';
[Boolean]$GPSData = $true;
# Set ASCII encoding for extracting string data from property
$Encode = new-object System.Text.ASCIIEncoding;
# Check to see if image file has GPS data by checking
# PropertyID 1: Latitude N or S value
$LatNS = $Encode.GetString($img.GetPropertyItem(1).Value)
$GPSData = $false
# If image file has GPS data, process remaining data
if ($GPSData -eq $true)
#Increment file with GPS data counter
$fileCountWithPartialGPS += 1;
# Get GPS data from image file.
# PropertyID 1 = Latitude N or S
# PropertyID 2 = Latitude degress, minutes, and seconds
# PropertyID 3 = Longitude E or W
# PropertyID 4 = Longitude degress, minutes, and seconds
$LatDegrees = (([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(2).Value, 0)) `
/ ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(2).Value, 4)));
$LatMinutes = ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(2).Value, 8)) `
/ ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(2).Value, 12));
$LatSeconds = ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(2).Value, 16)) `
/ ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(2).Value, 20));
# Set ASCII encoding for extracting string data from property
$Encode = new-object System.Text.ASCIIEncoding;
$LonEW = $Encode.GetString($img.GetPropertyItem(3).Value);
$LonDegrees = (([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(4).Value, 0)) `
/ ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(4).Value, 4)));
$LonMinutes = ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(4).Value, 8)) `
/ ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(4).Value, 12));
$LonSeconds = ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(4).Value, 16)) `
/ ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(4).Value, 20));
$AboveSeaLevel = 1 - ([System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(6).Value, 0))
$Altitude = (([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(6).Value, 0)) `
/ ([Decimal][System.BitConverter]::ToInt32( `
$img.GetPropertyItem(6).Value, 4)));
$AboveSeaLevel = "0";
$Altitude = 0;
# Create outpfile row from GPS data
if ((($LatDegrees + $LatMinutes + $LatSeconds + `
$LonDegrees + $LonMinutes + $LonSeconds) -ne 0) `
-or ($IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput -eq 'Y'))
$out = '"' + $file + '"' + $d + '"' + $LonEW + '"' + $d `
+ '"' + $LatNS + '"' + $d + $LonDegrees + $d `
+ $LonMinutes + $d + $LonSeconds + $d `
+ $LatDegrees + $d + $LatMinutes + $d `
+ $LatSeconds + $d + $AboveSeaLevel + $d `
+ $Altitude;
if (($LatDegrees + $LatMinutes + $LatSeconds + `
$LonDegrees + $LonMinutes + $LonSeconds) -ne 0)
$fileCountWithGPS += 1;
elseif ($IncludeFilesWithNoGPSInOutput -eq 'Y')
# Create blank output row if it should be included in results
$out = '"' + $file + '"' + $d + '""' + $d + '""' + $d `
+ '0' + $d + '0' + $d + '0' + $d + '0' + $d `
+ '0' + $d + '0' + $d + '0' + $d + '0';
# If image file has GPS data or image file should be recorded
# with blank GPS data, add data row to output file
if ($out -ne '')
$out | Out-File -Append -FilePath $OutputFilePath;
# Write update to console every 100 files that are processed
if (($fileCount % $UpdateCount) -eq 0)
[Int32]$startTimeDiff = `
([TimeSpan]([DateTime]::Now - $startTime)).TotalSeconds;
$hostout = "Processed $fileCount files so far. ";
$hostout += `
"$fileCountWithGPS file(s) contain complete GPS data. ";
$hostout += `
"$fileCountWithPartialGPS file(s) contain partial GPS data...";
Write-Host $hostout;
Write-Host "$startTimeDiff seconds processing so far.";
Write-Host "";
# Increment file counter
$fileCount += 1;
[Int32]$startTimeDiff = `
([TimeSpan]([DateTime]::Now - $startTime)).TotalSeconds;
$hostout = "Processing complete. Processed $fileCount total files. ";
$hostout += "$fileCountWithGPS file(s) contained complete GPS data. ";
$hostout += `
"$fileCountWithPartialGPS file(s) contained partial GPS data...";
Write-Host $hostout;
Write-Host "$startTimeDiff seconds total processing.";
# An invalid folder path has been supplied, so return without processing
Write-Host 'You must supply a valid folder path';
# No folder path has been supplied, so return without processing
Write-Host 'You must supply a folder path';
SQLblog found a new home this past weekend and was moved onto a much needed, much better server infrastructure. SQLblog continues using MaximumASP (now CBeyond Cloud Services but still found at www.maximumasp.com). We have been very happy with our hosting and support and MaximumASP worked with us ensure that are hardware and disaster recovery options were optimal for our budget. It obvious why we are now in our fourth year being hosted at MaximumASP.
Now that I've discussed converting XML into a set of HIERARCHYID values I thought I'd try to reverse the process...
Not sure if you've attempted to convert a table with HIERARCHYID to an XML representation, and if you have, I'm sure you've experienced the same woes as me. Sure, I could have taken the route of using C# to create the XML, and it very well may be a better way to make such a conversion; instead I decided that I had to be able to do this in T-SQL, and so began the journey to find such a solution...
Since the XML modify method can only insert into a single node in an XML document, I had to either attempt to generate a string representation of the xml form the data (no simple task) or I could cursor through the data one row at a time (yes, cursor) and insert each node. For this implementation, I choose the cursor method simply because it would be easier to do than to recreate the XML document abilities akin to what is done in the .NET framework.
When using XQuery to insert nodes, you must use a static value (in other words, you cannot use a composed string variable for the XQuery in the XML modify method). At first, this made it difficult to figure out how to insert a node into another node since there was no point of reference.
And so thought that I could use the HIERARCHID's ToString() method to figure out node positions in the XML, but that quickly was discarded after realizing that the path representation is guaranteed to be neither consecutive nor integers, and it would require using sp_executesql, which I also wanted to avoid.
Then I thought that the data would probably be uniquely identifiable, and so I could use that "id" to add an attribute to every node that I constructed and then cursor through and insert into the node that matched the parent id of the node I was inserting, which removed the need to use sp_executesql. In other words, I would create a cursor that contained the parent node ID and concatenated values from the row of data to create the node with an "id" attribute.
CAST ('<' + NodeName + ' id="' CAST(NodeID AS VARCHAR(20)) + '">' + ISNULL(NodeText, '') + '</' + NodeName + '>' AS XML) AS XmlToInsert
I would then iterate through the cursor and insert the node as follows:
CAST ('<' + NodeName + ' id="' CAST(NodeID AS VARCHAR(20)) + '">' + ISNULL(NodeText, '') + '</' + NodeName + '>' AS XML) AS XmlToInsert
SET @XR.modify('insert sql:variable("@xcol") into (//*[@id=sql:variable("@hparentid")])[1]')
SET @XR.modify('insert sql:variable("@xcol") into (//*[@id=sql:variable("@hparentid")])[1]')
This uses the sql:variable extension to find a node via a relative reference. It looks for the node, regardless of location in the XML, with the attribute" "id" equal to the "id" of the parent which is contained in the @hparent variable.
Alas, this could become more problematic if the unique key contained multiple fields. One also might not want to include an extra "id" attribute in the results. Because of these and other things that I realized could go wrong with this implementation, I decided to scrap it and moved on. And although the version I am about to present has its own potential for issues, I felt it was more flexible and cleaner in its approach. Essentially what I decided to do is to use a temp table that contained the generated the XML node, the original HIERARCHYID value, a row number, generated with ROW_NUMBER() ordered by the hierarchy order, and a parent row number, which would initially set to 0 then updated using a self join on the temp table.
Then since the XML nodes position will match the generated row number based on the HIERARCHYID position, we can simply insert the new node into the parent node based on its position.
-- Sample Data to test with CREATE TABLE #HTable (NodeName sysname, Attributes xml, NodeText VARCHAR(MAX), HierarchyNode HIERARCHYID) INSERT INTO #HTable (NodeName, Attributes, NodeText, HierarchyNode) VALUES ('a', '', NULL, 0x), ('b', NULL, NULL, 0x58), ('c', '', 'abc', 0x5AC0), ('c', NULL, 'def', 0x5B40), ('b', '', NULL, 0x68), ('c', NULL, 'abc', 0x6AC0), ('c', NULL, 'def', 0x6B40) CREATE TABLE #T (XmlToInsert XML, HierarchyNode HIERARCHYID, RowNum INT, ParentRowNum INT) -- INSERT the generated XML node, the original HIERARCHYID, a unique row number, and a parent row number (set to 0) INSERT INTO #T (XmlToInsert, HierarchyNode, RowNum, ParentRowNum) SELECT CAST( '<' + NodeName + ' ' + CASE WHEN Attributes IS NOT NULL THEN SUBSTRING(CAST(Attributes AS VARCHAR(MAX)), 3, LEN(CAST(Attributes AS VARCHAR(MAX))) - 4) ELSE '' END + '>' + ISNULL(NodeText, '') + '</' + NodeName + '>' AS XML) AS XmlToInsert , HierarchyNode , ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY HierarchyNode) AS RowNum , 0 AS ParentRowNum FROM #HTable ORDER BY HierarchyNode -- UPDATE the parent row number using the HIERARCHYID method GetAncestor in the self join -- If the amount of data is great, an index could be created on the temp table prior to the update UPDATE T1 SET T1.ParentRowNum = T2.RowNum FROM #T AS T1 INNER JOIN #T AS T2 ON T2.HierarchyNode = T1.HierarchyNode.GetAncestor(1) DECLARE @xcol XML, @parentrownum INT, @flag BIT = 0, @XR XML = '' -- We actually only need the generated XML and the parent row number to do the rest of this work DECLARE crH CURSOR READ_ONLY FOR SELECT XmlToInsert, ParentRowNum FROM #T ORDER BY RowNum OPEN crH FETCH NEXT FROM crH INTO @xcol, @parentrownum WHILE(@@FETCH_STATUS = 0) BEGIN -- First time through, we add a root node IF @flag = 0 SET @XR.modify('insert sql:variable("@xcol") into (/)[1]') ELSE -- Subsequent passes we find the parent node by position SET @XR.modify('insert sql:variable("@xcol") into (//*)[sql:variable("@parentrownum")][1]') SET @flag = 1 FETCH NEXT FROM crH INTO @xcol, @parentrownum END CLOSE crH DEALLOCATE crH DROP TABLE #T DROP TABLE #HTable SELECT @xr
I did try one other version that used a recursive CTE to generate the list of nodes and their respective "rownum" and "parentRowNum":
;WITH H1 AS ( SELECT NodeName , Attributes , NodeText , HierarchyNode , ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY HierarchyNode) AS RowNum FROM #HTable AS HT ) , H AS ( SELECT CAST( '<' + NodeName + ' ' + CASE WHEN Attributes IS NOT NULL THEN SUBSTRING(CAST(Attributes AS VARCHAR(MAX)), 3, LEN(CAST(Attributes AS VARCHAR(MAX))) - 4) ELSE '' END + '>' + ISNULL(NodeText, '') + '</' + NodeName + '>' AS XML) AS XmlToInsert , HierarchyNode , RowNum , CAST(0 AS BIGINT) AS ParentRowNum FROM H1 AS HT WHERE HierarchyNode = HIERARCHYID::GetRoot() UNION ALL SELECT CAST( '<' + HT.NodeName + ' ' + CASE WHEN HT.Attributes IS NOT NULL THEN SUBSTRING(CAST(HT.Attributes AS VARCHAR(MAX)), 3, LEN(CAST(HT.Attributes AS VARCHAR(MAX))) - 4) ELSE '' END + '>' + ISNULL(HT.NodeText, '') + '</' + HT.NodeName + '>' AS XML) , HT.HierarchyNode , HT.RowNum , H.RowNum FROM H1 AS HT INNER JOIN H ON H.HierarchyNode = HT.HierarchyNode.GetAncestor(1) ) INSERT INTO #T (XmlToInsert, HierarchyNode, RowNum, ParentRowNum) SELECT XmlToInsert, HierarchyNode, RowNum, ParentRowNum FROM H ORDER BY HierarchyNode
Instead of inserting the initial values into the temp table #T, this generates the completed set of data and then inserts it into #T. However, regardless of what variation I tried (e.g. add indexes), the initial method I show that inserts then updates #T was always faster.
Please let me know if you have any ideas that might optimize this, and if you have an implementation (T-SQL or .NET), please share.
In a previous blog post, I had discussed a method of shredding XML to a table with HIERARCHYID, and realized that it had a dependency that I was not too keen about: The XML data required an "id" attribute in order to create the hierarchy. I had sorted out a way to inject a unique attribute ID into all the nodes (I'll discuss this in a follow up post), but having to modify the original XML didn't have much appeal. But, upon reading another post by my fellow blogger, Adam Machanic, I realized it could be done without this requirement. Using the technique that Adam presented, I can generate unique paths to be parsed into a HIERARCHYID column.
SET @x = '<c>abc</c><c anotherAttribute="2">def</c><c>abc</c><c>def</c>' DECLARE @T TABLE (NodeName VARCHAR(255), Attributes XML, NodeText VARCHAR(MAX), HierarchyNode HIERARCHYID) ;WITH N (Node, NodeName, Attributes, NodeText, HierarchyPath) AS ( SELECT CAST(Expr.query('.') AS XML) -- Node , CAST(Expr.value('local-name(.)', 'varchar(255)') AS VARCHAR(255)) -- NodeName , CASE WHEN Expr.value('count(./@*)', 'INT') > 0 THEN Expr.query('{for $a in ./@* return $a}') ELSE NULL END -- Attributes , CAST(Expr.value('./text()[1]', 'varchar(max)') AS VARCHAR(MAX)) -- NodeText , CAST('/' AS VARCHAR(1000)) -- HierarchyPath FROM @x.nodes('/*[1]') AS Res(Expr) UNION ALL SELECT Expr.query('.') -- Node , CAST(Expr.value('local-name(.)', 'varchar(255)') AS VARCHAR(255)) -- NodeName , CASE WHEN Expr.value('count(./@*)', 'INT') > 0 THEN Expr.query('{for $a in ./@* return $a}') ELSE NULL END -- Attributes , CAST(Expr.value('./text()[1]', 'varchar(max)') AS VARCHAR(MAX)) -- NodeText , CAST(N.HierarchyPath + CAST(DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY Expr) AS VARCHAR(1000)) + '/' AS VARCHAR(1000)) -- HierarchyPath FROM N CROSS APPLY Node.nodes('*/*') AS Res(Expr) ) INSERT INTO @T (NodeName, Attributes, NodeText, HierarchyNode) SELECT NodeName, Attributes, NodeText, CAST(HierarchyPath AS HIERARCHYID) FROM N ORDER BY CAST(HierarchyPath AS HIERARCHYID) SELECT * FROM @T
For this example, I simple grab the node name, the node text, and the attributes (when they exist) as a simple XML value of the format:

Of course, these values could also be shredded into the hierarchy. One way of doing this would be to add an additional column to the results that represents the type of entry in the hierarchy (node versus attribute). My challenge to you is to create that solution.
Have fun!
A friend and colleague of mine, Caleb Jenkins, has started a fitness challenge (http://calebjenkins.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/official-rules/) and I decided that it was time for me to accelerate my fitness program that I had started in January. As of 9:00 AM on February 1, I weighed in at 201 pounds. My overall and ambitious goal is to lose at least 20 pounds. I hope to lose at least 10 pounds during the month of February. Even if I don't win the fitness challenge, I will be much better off and will hopefully get to my ultimate goal of staying under 180 pounds.
I worked out on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I also helped my 5 year old son attempt to ride his bicycle without training wheels for the first time. My backs hurts from leaning over and catching Chris from falling. I am sore. I am achy. But I am determined. Wish me luck on my road to a healthier lifestyle.
Are you a twitter tweeter who loves SQL Server? You are?! Great, because SQLblog is now posting (AKA tweeting) on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sqlblog. Enjoy!
It took a while, but a new e-book authored by yours truly, Greg Low, and Mark Whitehorn is finally available. And it's free!
To get your free copy, browse to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/sql/2008/default.mspx. From there, look in the Special Offers section for the "Free e-book offer". Although the site states you can get excerpts, the whole book is available for reading.
Many, many thanks to Greg and Mark for their quality contributions to the book.
Last year, my 4 year-old son and I walked (well, I carried him for 2 miles) in support of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). We raised a modest amount in support of this wonderful effort. This year, we want to help more than ever, and I thought I'd ask the SQLblog community for some additional support.
We are walking in support of our friend Marissa (Marissa's Mermaids team). Marissa was diagnosed in Sept. 2005 with Type 1 Diabetes, since then she has had 4620 finger pricks to draw blood and 1095 injections. Now, she is attached to an insulin pump 24 hours a day. Type 1 (or Juvenile) Diabetes is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system - it is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its pancreas and permanently destroys the cells that make insulin. Once Type 1 Diabetes arrives, it becomes a life-long condition.
Like nearly 3 million Americans with Type 1 Diabetes, Marissa has lower projected lifespan by 14 years and is more likely to suffer blindness, amputation, heart disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, stroke, and heart attack. Every year, 13,000 children are diagnosed. INSULIN IS NOT A CURE - IT IS MERELY LIFE SUPPORT. At times when Marissa is most upset, with tears in her eyes, she says, "I wish I could take my diabetes and throw it in the trash can."
To manage Marissa's diabetes, her parents have the impossible struggle of balancing carbohydrates, insulin, and physical activity with uncontrollable variables such as illness, growth, exercise-level, excitement, and stress. Every day offers Marissa the risk of a drastic low blood sugar causing seizure or possibly death. It could only take one mistake on one morning or one afternoon or one night. Or it could simply involve a random event from her body.
Marissa is brave. Her parents poke her finger to draw blood 8-12 times each day including routine checks at midnight and 3am. Every carbohydrate at every meal or snack must be counted. The carbs must be perfectly balanced immediately through injections or an insulin pump to attempt to imitate the way yours and my pancreas works. There are no exceptions and there is never a day off!
JDRF is amazingly efficient - 85% of donations go directly to research.
Major research advances have occurred in the past few years! Diabetes has been cured in mice in at least 4 ways and various human trials are beginning. Scientists legitimately believe a cure is possible before Marissa loses this life-long battle. We ask you to share Marissa's story with your organization so that your entire company would consider sponsoring Marissa. Your contribution might make the difference in the one research laboratory where the cure will be achieved!
So if you are able to donate, please visit http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87065878. Together we can help find a cure!
Dan Jones wrote a great post about Facets from the new Policy-Based Management feature of SQL Server 2008. At one point in the post, he listed all of the available facets and their supported evaluation modes. Since SQL Server 2008 is not RTM, and since facets can be added in the future, I thought I'd write a query that would list the facets and supported evaluation modes.
Note that the On Demand mode is always supported and has therefore been left out of the query.
;WITH EM (EvalModeID, EvalModeName) AS ( SELECT * FROM (VALUES (1, 'Check on Change: Prevent'), (2, 'Check on Change: Log'), (4, 'Check on Schedule')) AS EvalModes (EvalModeID, EvalModeName) ) , FEM (FacetID, FacetName, EvaluationMode, IsSupported) AS ( SELECT pmf.management_facet_id , pmf.name , EM.EvalModeName , 1 FROM msdb.dbo.syspolicy_management_facets AS pmf INNER JOIN EM ON pmf.execution_mode & EM.EvalModeID = EM.EvalModeID ) SELECT FacetID , FacetName , [Check on Change: Prevent] , [Check on Change: Log] , [Check on Schedule] FROM FEM PIVOT ( COUNT(IsSupported) FOR EvaluationMode IN ([Check on Change: Prevent], [Check on Change: Log], [Check on Schedule]) )AS FEMP ORDER BY FacetName
The results for the existing 72 facets are as follows:
Check on Change: Prevent
Check on Change: Log
Check on Schedule
As promised, I am posting my samples from the North America TechEd 2008 Developer Week.
Note: All the samples are designed to run in SQL Server 2008. The safe dynamic sql samples can be modified, however, to work in SQL Server 2005.
After numerous questions and requests, we decided to create a forum for all SQL Server related questions. You can view the new forum at http://sqlblog.com/forums/57/ShowForum.aspx or use the Forums menu item on the site to browse there. We hope this new addition to the SQLblog community provides the members a valuable benefit and look forward to seeing your forum posts.
With some help from two esteemed colleagues, Greg Low and Mark Whitehorn, the Introducing SQL Server 2008 book is now content complete. Sure, there is still some tech and copy editing that needs to be done, but the core writing is complete. The book, based on the Feburary CTP6 release, will be available free from Microsoft and covers a slew of new features including:
I'll post again when the book is available for download.
Earlier today, Will Sullivan posted a blog entry, My Statement on Stored Procedures, in which he emphatically states his official opinion of stored procedures as:
"I prefer not to use them."
He then goes about dismissing most of the misinformation about why stored procedures are better than ad-hoc (parameterized) queries.
The first bit of misinformation he dispels is the now defunct argument that "Stored Procedures are faster than ad-hoc queries". He states that "Unless your ad-hoc queries are always significantly different from each other, their execution plans are cached right along side those of the SP's." I completely agree. We'll call that one a tie, so the score so far: SP 0, Ad-hoc 0.
Another myth he tries to debunk is that "Editing SP's is a breeze with Query Analyzer". Query Analyzer - that's so SQL Server 2000. Seriously, though, there are a number of fine code editors that allow you to edit SPs with ease. Query Analyzer is not at the top of that list, however. I will say that when you write T-SQL you should use a code editor that is meant for T-SQL, for the same reasons that when you write C#, you want to use a code editor meant for C#. Again, no winner here, so the score remains: SP 0, Ad-hoc 0.
He addresses another statement that is supposedly made in defense of SPs: "Ad-hoc queries are a nightmare to maintain, as they are spread all over your code". Again, either one is easy to maintain, with the right tools. We are still scoreless: SP 0, Ad-hoc 0.
It just so happens that I agree with many of his points. And there are other objective and subjective points on topics such as organization, maintenance, design, and so on, which one could argue for either SPs or ad-hoc queries equally so. Don't get me wrong, however, as I believe that using ad-hoc queries when you could have used stored procedures is simply wrong.
And so I will address Will's last point (actually, it was his second point) that is repeatedly misrepresented: "Stored Procedures are safe against SQL injection attacks; ad-hoc queries are not".
Ad-hoc queries prevent SQL Injection attacks as well as SPs do. Any claim otherwise would be wrong. But that's not the issue. The problem is that ad-hoc queries require that you expose the underlying objects of the database. In order to use ad-hoc queries, you must allow direct access for select, insert, update, and delete operations to the tables in the database. Although I know most experienced developers would only write ad-hoc/parameterized queries against the underlying data, at a later date, some disgruntled or inexperienced developer may write dynamic SQL instead (I have seen it happen), and expose the database to SQL injection attacks (which I have also seen in production systems), including exposure to such awful actions as...
-- Can you say Identity Theft? SELECT FirstName, LastName, ZIP, CreditCardNumber, CreditCardType, CreditCardExpoiration, CVV FROM Customers
...or worse...
-- Do we really need all those customers? DELETE Customers
...or even worse...
-- NEVER EVER DO THIS, PLEASE -- This will execute a DELETE against all tables EXEC sp_MSforeachtable 'DELETE ?'
...or even, even worse (assuming the SQL login has elevated permissions - which many apps do)...
-- NEVER EVER DO THIS, PLEASE -- This will drop all tables from the database EXEC sp_MSforeachtable 'DROP TABLE ?'
...and so although your ad-hoc query code won't allow SQL injection, some other programmer's dynamic SQL will. Assuming you've correctly secured your database, this doesn't happen with stored procedures since you do not have to expose any of the underlying tables (because of a little something known as chain of ownership).
Of course, you could completely self-destruct any security benefits by creating a SP such as this one:
-- NEVER EVER DO THIS, PLEASE, I beg of you... CREATE PROC prExecuteSql (@sql VARCHAR(MAX)) WITH EXECUTE AS dbo AS EXEC (@sql) GO
As you can see, SPs aren't fool proof, but you can mitigate your risk by having an employee or a consultant who knows what they are doing in the database.
Yes, there are some applications will not require the extra security, or other factors may simply prevent you from using stored procedures, and so using ad-hoc SQL is a viable option in those cases. But I believe that security should be at the top of your important-things-for-your-application list, and alas, ad-hoc queries require you to unnecessarily expose your database objects, which will more than likely lead to problems down the road. You can argue any other point and there are no clear winners, but when it comes to security, ad-hoc loses. If you want to a more secure database, you need to be using SPs.
And so, the final score (well, for now anyways): SP 1, Ad-hoc 0.


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Neoliberalism is not merely destructive of rules, institutions and rights. It is also productive of certain kinds of social relations, certain ways of living, certain subjectivities….at stake in neo-liberalism is nothing more, nor less, than the form of our existence—the way in which we are led to conduct ourselves, to relate to others and to ourselves.
—Dardot & Laval, The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society
"Your Lazy Life Ends Today!" proclaimed a recent promotional tweet by Go Fucking Do It, a new productivity app.


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B&B Poll: Steffy's Baby
Fans pick the baby's sex.
Whether it was planned or not the fact remains that Steffy is pregnant with Liam's baby. There are many factors that need to be dealt with in order for Steffy and Liam to have a happy ending with their child, but for now let's put that aside and pick the sex of her baby.
If you could pick what Steffy will have would it be a boy or a girl? Or maybe one of both? Vote then feel free to leave your comments on this latest soap pregnancy in the section below.
Also vote in our Y&R Poll: Abby's Return to let us know what you'd like to see for her Genoa City character, and share which soap has the best on-again, off-again relationships by voting in our Weekly Soap Debate: Breakups And Makeups.
Join us on Twitter @soapoperafan and Facebook. Come tweet and Facebook with us about "The Bold And The Beautiful," all the other soap operas, "Dallas," "Glee," "Grey's Anatomy," "Pretty Little Liars," "Revenge," "Vampire Diaries," and "Venice The Series."
- Amy Mistretta


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It used to be that the luxury car wheat was separated from the regular car chaff by its construction — the finest materials, handmade bodies, and polished precision parts under that custom skin. But that era ended years ago, so now we have gizmos.
My current favorite is the 'atomizer fragrances' you can get in the mass-produced 2014 Sonderklasse. You get four smells that get backlit by LEDs if you check the right options box. Because the new car smell isn't for everyone, I guess.
What do you think is the most ridiculous feature you can find in a luxury car these days?
Photo Credit: Mercedes-Benz


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|Pin It
Part Number:VP-MP-FJ1901-4
Item Size:4.25" x 5.5" (folded)
Pink Damask Posh Folded Note
This posh and trendy top fold white thank you note features a top and bottom damask border in pink and white. A blue stripe runs below the top border above your personalized text. A screen of the damask pattern sits behind your personalized text for a stylized look. Includes white unlined envelopes.
Ideal For:Folded Note Cards
Delivery Time
To determine your delivery time, add the ground shipping time to your location, as shown on the map below, to the listed processing time. To speed up your delivery, you can select rush processing(details below in the form) and/or upgrade shipping to next day or second day air during the checkout process. If you have requested a proof, the processing time listed begins after you have approved your proof.
Processing Time:Approximately 2-3 business days
Ships From:North Carolina
Font Shown:Leking & Cezanne
Font Color:Sky Blue, Yellow
Paper Thickness:100# White Cover
Printing Method:Digital Press
Min. Order Quantity:10


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Quilt Show FAQ: How do I get the photos the right size?
Entries for the Sydney Quilt Show 2017 close at 11.59pm on Monday 13 March 2017. That's only a week away. Please don't leave it to the last minute, jump online and submit your entry today!
QuiltNSW requires a good quality photo showing the entire quilt up to whatever stage it is at - work in progress photos are fine! For the online entry form, the photo must in jpg format and the file size must not exceed 2MB. (The preferred aspect ratio is 10x15cm/4x6in but this is not essential.)
If your camera is set to take high resolution/large photos, it is likely that you will have to resize your photo. 1MB is ideal (say 1200 pixels on the longest side). Most photo-editing programs have resizing functions. In addition, your computer may have built-in tools for resizing images. Here are some tutorial links:
- How to resize an image in Microsoft Paint (Vista, Windows 7/8/10)
- How to resize multiple images in Windows without software
- How to resize photos (For Macs)
See the Guide to the Online Entry Form for answers to other FAQs. Please direct any other queries to:
- Exhibition queries: email@example.com or the QuiltNSW office (02) 9283 3737
- Technical queries: email@example.com
Here is the ONLINE ENTRY FORM.
The exhibition team looks forward to receiving your entry!


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The producer of this year's Emmy Awards said it's a challenge to decide who to include in the ceremony's memorial tribute.
About three-dozen stars and other industry notables typically are honored in the "in memoriam" segment, although many more are deserving, executive producer Don Mischer said Friday.
He said he and the TV academy identify the late actors and other TV notables who will create an "emotional response" among Emmy viewers. That drew a wry observation from Jimmy Kimmel, who will host the Sept. 23 awards on ABC.
"I love that even in death, you're subject to a popularity contest," Kimmel said.
Omissions typically are more an issue for the Oscars than the Emmys. But some viewers objected when the death of "Taxi" star Jeff Conaway wasn't noted in last year's Emmy tribute.
Other than the host, the segment is consistently the audience's favorite part of the telecast, Mischer said told a meeting of the Television Critics Association.
He was asked if Andy Griffith, who died July 3 at age 86, would get special attention because of the actor's beloved 1960s comedy, "The Andy Griffith Show," and his subsequent long-running legal drama, "Matlock."
There are ways to focus attention on individuals with a unique position in the industry, Mischer said, such as placing their tribute at the beginning or end of the memorial segment.
ABC late-night host Kimmel was asked if he was annoyed the network didn't ask him to host the Emmys the last time it aired the awards, in 2008. The emcee job went to five reality TV show hosts, including Jeff Probst of "Survivor" and Heidi Klum of "Project Runway," who were roundly panned.
Kimmel said he took some satisfaction in the outcome.
"I was able to look good by not doing anything at all. That's my goal in life, by the way," he said.


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|Kibby gets ready to serve.
The dolphins always have their own ideas of what's going to happen on a session. The schedule may call for a session about research, but if grey faces decide that it's time to play, then play they shall! During a particularly fun session both the "little" boys and the "big" boys were up for a round of volleyball.
You may think that it was an uneven match since the five largest took on three smaller males, but don't worry. A.J., Jax, and Tanner proved that they are huge in spirit. They held their own.
The game began when Jax threw the ball over the boardwalk to the lagoon next door. Not missing a beat, Rainbow threw it back over to his little buddy. A.J. ducked behind Jax and shot it to Talon, who kicked it once over again. As the boys played a very exciting game of dolphin volleyball, onlookers watched as the game heated up the already warm Florida day.
At one point, Jax hit the ball and it flew into the audience. A lucky guest got in on the game! He threw the ball back into the lagoon so the game could resume.
The competition continued throughout the session with no clear winner. A.J. and Jax must have thought the same, because the next day they began another match. As the boys continued to play, more lucky visitors cheered them on.
We're not sure who won this competition, but for those who were able to have front row seats, it was truly a spectacular event.


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Please Note: The images used here are taken from promotional materials, not the Blu-ray edition of the film under review.
When it comes to Robert Altman, I'm an iconoclast's iconoclast: My favorite work by that reliably rebellious, hit-or-miss, sometimes truly great American independent-film (or, at least, independent-spirited film) godfather isn't one of his popular hits (The Player) or rightly famous cinephile's-pick classics (Nashville), but his previously too-long-overlooked 3 Women. And now that I've seen his hazily evocative 1969 film That Cold Day in the Park, I can say with some assurance that it's much better than the one that followed, Altman's popular breakthrough, the overrated M*A*S*H* (many, many of his other, less-popular films are markedly more interesting and accomplished than M*A*S*H*, too; simultaneous box-office and artistic success were not very frequently to be for this adventurous film artist). That Cold Day in the Park is actually much more typical of Altman in general than his famous Korean war movie, and a striking opening salvo in a strain of soft-edged ambiguity that would weave its way through the rest of his work, most notably in the films about women. That blissfully tragic moment at the end of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, where we unexpectedly cut to an extreme close-up on Mrs. Miller's opium pipe so that it becomes the entire screen world (and that's what we, along with the character, are left with) is more of a continuation of -- has more of a connection with -- what Altman was up to in That Cold Day in the Park than anything in M*A*S*H*. Here, we find Altman's trademark languorously roaming camera and audio-visual layerings already in full flight, as well as his insatiably curious, queasily unpredictable visual/narrative style that always seems to be in the act of peeking around a corner; his intriguing and rich off-center approach to his people and their situations; and that taste for the undecided, in-between, fluid corners of life that reached its peak in parts of Mrs. Miller and was even more full-bloodedly present in 1972's Images and the aforementioned masterpiece 3 Women.
For this first exploration, Altman takes off from a novel by Peter Miles about a repressed young woman who takes in a handsome, apparently homeless young man out of pity but begins to treat him like a prisoner (in a sort of gender reversal of William Wyler's The Collector); he's a disturbingly arousing object of desire to be locked up until she can bring herself out of her binding inhibition and have him. Altman works with his stars Sandy Dennis (the stage legend and supporting actress from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? who does what very well may be her finest-ever work here) and former prolific TV child actor Michael Burns, shooting the story against the backdrop of chilly Vancouver, B.C., the ambiance of which is significant; unlike most other Vancouver-shot productions, Altman doesn't just exploit the cheapness of filming there and make the place stand in for some other town, but instead embraces it as what it is, recognizing its status as Canada's Left Coast answer to San Francisco -- the summer-of-love quality of its places and people the perfectly sexually and medicinally-liberated contrast to the Dennis character's buttoned-up life -- as in fortuitously perfect keeping with what That Cold Day in the Park is about. Equally significant are the characters' names, or lack thereof: Dennis, her hair done up in a prim bun and her quasi-British elocution ringing in well-articulated echoes through her spacious and elegant flat, goes by the bookish-drawing-room moniker Frances Austen, while the young blond man who catches her eye as she shuts the blinds in preparation for a dull bourgeois dinner party featuring her dull, proper doctor fiancé and some even more tiresome older relatives, is never named. Frances assumes that the boy is homeless (this turns out to be only half-true), and, despite her guests' mocking her meek expressions of sympathy, she ignores their advice and invites him in after they finally leave, his apparent starving appetite, nonchalantly immodest doffing of his soaked clothes and all-around penchant for uninhibited nudity, and refusal to speak arousing her interest and eliciting her invitation that he stay the night...in a separate bedroom, of course.
The young man turns out to be just a halfheartedly drifting suburban boy who pops in and out of his folks' house as he pleases, playing hippie along with a sexually-active-and-loving-it sister (Susanne Benton) whom he invites into Frances's house for a peek and a laugh at his lush new digs (the sister throws into further relief the anachronistic self-imprisonment of Frances's sexuality). But the stakes are very high -- life-or-death, as it turns out -- for the repressed Frances, and it's this disconnect between casualness and urgency that the film explores for a mounting tension that finally releases in a drastic climax, with a disturbing yet deeply touching conclusion to Frances's futile plans to free herself through her delayed seduction of this bemused young man, who only meant to string along a generous square. Along the way, the camera (in a fantastically fluid, amazingly expressive technical collaboration between Robert Altman and his DP, the great Laszlo Kovacs (Five Easy Pieces), that's full of beguiling, seemingly near-continuous slow pans and zooms, with shifts in the film's usually shallow focus that create a visual atmosphere at once raw, gauzy-soft, and rife with unexpected, near-hallucinatory detail) follows her along at that steadily, stealthily inquisitive Altman visual tempo as she discreetly locks the boy's door at night and brings him breakfast in the morning (then nails his window shut after she realizes it's his escape route); allows herself the unheard-of luxury of actually becoming playful with him in a game of blind-man's bluff and a feast of hash brownies; and becomes a stone-faced, statue-stiff blank slate at her pre-wedding visit to the gynecologist's, where her fellow patients fill the waiting room with embarrassingly free, New-Woman talk of IUDs and The Pill and variances in male and female anatomy. Frances finally tips into a sort of panicked erotic madness when she discovers, after spilling her heart out to the silent man she hopes will soon be her lover (she's like Bibi Andersson in Persona, becoming ever more talkative and self-disclosing to fill the void left by Liv Ullmann's stubborn silence), that she's been talking to a stuffed-animal dummy left by the boy to lull his captor, leaving him free to roam out in the night in an unrestricted way unimaginable for Frances. What she then does to keep the boy a part of her cloistered life becomes increasingly absurd, desperate, and self-destructive -- a prolonged meltdown throughout which Altman, Kovacs, and Dennis nevertheless sustain that floating equilibrium, that never dispassionate but always calmly accepting taking in of everything by a restless camera eye, that were particular aesthetic attributes that belonged to Altman alone.
That Cold Day in the Park was an artistic triumph but a financial failure soon erased by bottom-line-obsessed Hollywood history; I'll confess that, until I read the excellent oral biography of Altman by Mitchell Zuckoff, I had complacently assumed that M*A*S*H* was his first feature, and that he simply grew by leaps and bounds from there. But now that I've finally seen it, I can attest that it's decidedly purer Altman than his breakthrough (any fellow fan of the director who also hasn't yet seen it should jump on this Blu-ray, which not only finally makes it widely available but does it full visual justice to boot), revealing that his imaginative, captivating, mood-creating use of the camera was there and bearing glorious fruit from the beginning. Altman was never a quixotic, Cassavetes-like crusader for some platonic ideal of Real Life miraculously captured and conveyed through film; he accepted the artifice inherent to actors, sets, stories, scripts, etc., and then used his camera to probe that artifice in search of whatever capital-T Truth (as opposed to facts or "reality") lies dormant in it -- a process in which, in Altman's sincerely inquisitive hands, the journey, the search, really is as important as the destination or truths we might arrive at. This smart, original, expansive aesthetic philosophy is already on bold display in That Cold Day in the Park, in the way Altman (and, it shouldn't be forgotten, Dennis) intently but somewhat obliquely show you the film's very "normal," very haute-bourgeois woman dealing with the repercussions of what is perhaps her only act of spontaneity ever, bringing out her true existence as a haunted, haunting enigma that no-one who thinks they know her would ever quite suspect. As he would, always with admirable boldness and frequently to great success, do over the vast, diverse array of stories he would subsequently tell us, Altman holds her and her misadventure up to the light for scrutiny, turning them around slowly and letting us catch all those fleeting glints and refractions that enthrall, intrigue, and offer up clues as to what its meaning or significance, its Truth, might be, without ever presuming to make that call on our behalf.
This AVC/MPEG-4, 1080/24p widescreen presentation of the film (at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, apparently slightly altered from its theatrical exhibition ratio of 1.85:1, though it appears that that may have been a "matted" ratio from the film's original shooting ratio of 1.33:1; in any case, the framing all looks fine here) boasts an encouragingly conscientious transfer that keeps everything remarkably close to the film's period-specific look, the purposely shallow-focused/diffused textures of Lazslo Kovacs's naturalistic lighting and muted-color palette remarkably intact and beautiful in their singular way. There's plenty of healthy grain, indicating no overscrubbing with digital noise reduction, and little to no edge enhancement; it's an altogether nicely authentic, faithful, and film-like experience.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 soundtrack faithfully preserves the film's somewhat limited original mono soundtrack. Though the score sounds full and warm, there's an occasional tinniness and distortion to some of the dialogue, which will sound familiar to fans of late-'60s/early-'70s American cinema -- typical deficiencies (at least to Dolby/DTS-trained ears) in the direct-sound recording technology available to moviemakers at the time. There are, however, no apparent flaws in the treatment of the sound during the process of getting it onto Blu-ray; it always fits and sounds right and normal for a film of this style and vintage, regardless of any limitations.
None, unfortunately (Altman was eternally game for providing audio commentaries for any and all of his films, and if he weren't sadly departed, it's a good bet he would've at least been available for one here).
Robert Altman's perennial, eagerly inquisitive desire to explore women characters' murkiest depths (à la Images, 3 Women, and the Mrs. Miller half of McCabe & Mrs. Miller) is already evident and well-developed in an earlier, comparatively little-heard-of, altogether remarkable picture, That Cold Day in the Park. This strangely intimate and intense film, which (after a quickly disowned low-budget sci-fi movie, Countdown, that he made in '67), is for all intents and purposes Altman's true début, his real transition from a long, well-regarded apprenticeship in television to a big-screen directing career as the hyper-observant but loose cinematic storyteller we came to know, recognize, admire, and love over the subsequent decades. With a sure and steady visual sense that glides calmly (making unexpected detours all the while) through the world of the film's main character, the lonely Frances Austen (the never-better Sandy Dennis), Altman enters every corner, shows us every dark place of her externally laconic, internally tortured sexual and emotional repression as she tries to free herself from it through a connection with a strange boy from the park outside her luxury apartment; he achieves this languorous and empathetic but thorough exploration, moreover, without ever forcing or emphasizing matters in such a way as to oversimplify or reduce Frances's experience, or give short shrift to any of its multiple, ambiguous facets. The appearance of real life unfolding in real time in Altman has always been a bit of a sly ruse, brought off through his unusual, often supremely original work with actors and crew, as well as his allowing of scenes to take their own time and work in their own rhythm, however odd. He draws us in on that pretext of realism with good intentions, though; when he's found a story that benefits from the approach, as that of That Cold Day in the Park absolutely does, it allows us to accept, embrace, and become a close fellow-traveler (albeit only for the running time of the movie) in the entirely subjective experience of the character(s), one without its difficult, asymmetrical corners and bumps clumsily rounded off for our easier comprehension and digestion. There may be nothing new under the sun, but the experiences like those of Frances Austen, when related by Altman, his crew, and his cast, become hyper-individuated and fascinating because their inbuilt eccentricities and oddities are paid a unique respect by the sincerely curious filmmaker, who, by forging bravely forward into them and doing a tremendous job of using image and sound to pick up on feelings and behaviors that can't be readily explained or understood (that is to say, human feelings, human behavior), becomes our trusty, steady-handed guide, not just into the story, but into the very textures and details of someone else's dream of life. Highly Recommended.


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45 Bing cherries a day may keep the doctor away
Small, in-depth study finds levels for nine biomarkers of inflammation improved
Adding 45 sweet Bing cherries to the diet each day has been shown to lower levels of a variety of indicators for chronic inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a small, in-depth study by researchers at UC Davis School of Medicine has found.
The researchers found that cherry consumption selectively improved circulating blood levels for nine biomarkers of inflammatory disease. The work suggests that cherries may be an important addition to the diet to improve health, especially for individuals at risk for inflammatory diseases.
Researchers have increasingly linked chronic inflammation — the body's immune response to injury, infection and other harmful stimuli that damage cells — to some of the most common diseases of aging. They also have associated reduced levels of certain biomarkers with reduced severity of symptoms.
Elevated C-reactive protein, for example, is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and the potent vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 (ET-1) has known proliferative, profibrotic and proinflammatory properties that may contribute to many facets of diabetic vascular disease. Studies conducted in rats also have associated reduced C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFa) levels and increased interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) levels with a lessening of arthritis symptoms. In fact, TNFa drugs are now licensed for treating rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
About the study
For the UC Davis study, researchers asked 18 men and women aged 41 to 61 to supplement their diets with 45 Bing cherries, about 280 grams or nearly 10 ounces, each day for 28 days. All of the study participants were healthy but had modestly elevated levels of C-reactive protein, a biomarker for inflammation associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and other diseases. (The normal range for C-reactive protein is less than 1 mg per liter. The elevated levels among participants ranged from 1 to 14 mg per liter.)
The researchers evaluated protein levels in fasting blood samples before, during and after cherry supplementation at days 7, 21, 35 and 63 to obtain baseline, intervention and post-intervention data. Using targeted proteomic arrays, they comprehensively measured changes in 89 known markers for inflammation, immune status, cardiovascular disease, blood clotting and liver and kidney function.
The researchers found that cherry consumption increased the level of Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) — a known anti-inflammatory protein — by 27.9 percent and decreased concentrations for eight other biomarkers for disease. (see sidebar)
Cherry consumption had no effect on 67 other proteins evaluated, and 13 had levels that were below detection limits.
Understanding how certain components in food may play a protective role against inflammation is a growing area of research. Future research will focus on assessing the health effects of eating cherries in a larger group of individuals with chronic inflammatory disease.
The study was published in the Journal of Nutrition and was conducted by researchers in the UC Davis Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology in collaboration with the Western Human Nutrition Research Center's Agriculture Research Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The research was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, and the California Cherry Advisory Board.


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Mealtime Manners
Another question about my little 4-month old. Judging from his behavior when I eat, I'm pretty sure that his previous family not only fed him people food, but did so during their own mealtimes. Whenever I eat anything containing meat or dairy products, he is up on the table trying to help himself, even if he's just eaten. I'm left trying to eat with one hand while continually putting him back on the floor with the other. My last cat would occasionally try to talk me into giving her some of my food, but I don't remember her being this brazen about it.
With other unwanted behavior, it's easy to distract him with a toy. But when it's a matter of food that he thinks is rightfully his, there is no distracting him. Naturally, I don't give him people food. What else should I be doing to teach him better manners?
Give him people food. In fact try giving him raw people food. As in raw hamburger, chicken, turkey, etc. Here's a site for you to read. It may surprise you. There are also recipes for making your own cat food and raw cat food.
So when you are eating have a little bowl of raw food for him beside you or where he eats. It may just be the very best thing you could do for you little guy. Well, that and getting him a playmate.
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me.
We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD!
I agree with 14+, people food fed appropriately is better for your cat than processed cat food. Think about yourself, what is better for you, fresh fruit and veggies, or processed food?
Give your kitty some raw meat for dinner while you eat and that may satisfy him.
Here is a great recipe if you are thinking of making your own cat food, this is the recipe I use:
Cat maid to:
Jasper, male Ragdoll ?? (approx 10 yrs)
Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 7 yrs)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)
In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb
While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. Stephen R. Covey
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You have opinions. We know, because we see them everywhere. They're on Twitter, they're on Kinja, they're spreading across the net like an irrepressible virus (but like, a good virus).
We're not judging. We actually think it's awesome that the Gawker Media Group has attracted some of the most passionate, opinionated readers on the internet. Which is why we'd like to invite you to share your thoughts with us in an online, two-week focus group.
This focus group will give you a chance to provide us with valuable insight into how you interact with our sites. Essentially, we want your feedback so we can improve your reader experience. And in exchange, we'll give readers who participate for the full two weeks $55, because that's how focus groups work. Thoughts = money. Win-win, right?
But first! You'll have to take a screener to make sure you qualify for this online community (just like you, we have standards). If you're interested in participating, fill out the preliminary survey and we'll be in touch with details.


text: Lynn Anderson林恩·安德森1947年9月26日生于北达科他州的Grand Forks,成长于加州。 在她20岁生日的时候,Lynn已作为网络电视的唯一乡村歌手,与'The Larence Welk Show(一个著名的美国音乐节目)'签了约。Lynn的丈夫-制作人Glenn Sutton为Lynn创作了三支格莱美榜首曲《Rose Garden-玫瑰花园》、《You're My Man-你是我的男人》、《How Can I Unlove You-叫我如何不爱你》,此外《Cry-哭泣》、《Listen To A Country Song-聆听一首乡村歌曲》和《Fool Me-愚弄我》也曾排在格莱美前十位。by Steve HueyBest-known for her Grammy-winning smash Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson was one of the most popular female country singers of the early 70s, helped by her regular exposure on national television. Anderson was born in Grand Forks, ND, and grew up in Sacramento, CA; her mother, Liz, was a professional songwriter best-known for penning Merle Haggards early hits (All My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers and The Fugitive (the latter with her husband, Carey). Naturally, Lynn picked up music too, and performed as a singer and guitarist during her teen years. In the mid-60s, her mother got a recording contract of her own based on her demo tapes, some of which featured Lynn singing background vocals. When the two traveled to Nashville, Lynn wound up recording for the small Chart label, cutting a duet with Jerry Lane as her first single. Her first solo single was 1966s In Person, and in 1967 she scored her first Top 40 hit with her mothers composition Ride, Ride, Ride. She burst into the country Top Five with 1967s If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away), 1968s Promises, Promises, and 1969s Thats a No No. Her success helped her land a spot as a weekly regular on The Lawrence Welk Show for a time, and made her the only country singer of her time to fill such a slot on any TV program. She eventually departed amid objections to singing in stereotypical haywagon settings, but went on to appear on numerous other variety shows.In 1970, Anderson moved to Nashville with her husband, writer/producer Glenn Sutton, and signed with Columbia. She quickly scored the biggest hit of her career with the Joe South-penned Rose Garden, which topped the country charts and went all the way to number three on the pop side. It won her a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal, and proved a hit in 15 countries. While Anderson never quite duplicated that crossover phenomenon, she racked up 14 more Top Ten hits on the country charts through 1974, including the number ones How Can I Unlove You, Youre My Man, Keep Me in Mind, and What a Man, My Man Is. Her run of success tailed off somewhat in the latter half of the decade, but she continued to make regular appearances on the charts, and finally returned to the Top Ten with 1979s Isnt It Always Love. She parted ways with Columbia in 1981, and scored one last Top Ten hit for Permian with 1984s Youre Welcome to Tonight. Other than a single for MCA and an album for Mercury, Anderson was silent for the remainder of the 80s; in 1992, she issued the album Cowboys Sweetheart on the small Delta label. Live at Billy Bobs Texas appeared from out of nowhere in 2000.


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Pacquiao On Why Mayweather Won't Fight Him
Manny Pacquiao answers questions from USA TODAY's Jon Saraceno on whether a fight with Floyd Mayweather will ever happen.
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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Chaka Khan chosen for Apollo Legends Hall of Fame
NEW YORK (AP) -- R&B star Chaka Khan will be inducted into the Apollo Theater's hall of fame.
The theater announced Thursday that Patti LaBelle and Mary J. Blige will perform in Khan's honor at its June 10 New York gala.
The annual event raises funds for the Apollo's education and community outreach programs.
Khan and Blige received a Grammy together in 2008 for "Disrespectful."
Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie and the late Etta James were inducted last year into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame.
Other previous inductees include LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin, to name just a few.
Sarah Jessica Parker will present this year's corporate award to Time Warner Inc.


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Bisons take 2-1 win
The Bisons took a 1-0 lead behind a leadoff homer from Aregis Reyes on Wednesday night and held on all the way through for a 2-1 win over Louisville.
Kyle Snyder made the spot start but Tim McNab earned the win while Brandon Knight posted the save. Kyle Snyder picked up his first pro hit and RBI in the game.


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The Central Connecticut men's soccer team fell to Hartford by a score of 2-1 on Wednesday night. The Blue Devils (3-5-1) controlled the pace of play throughout the second period, including a goal by sophomore Freddy Metellus, but the Hawks (7-1-2) found the net late for a game-winning score.
Hartford scored first, with the goal coming in the 33rd minute of the first half, to take a 1-0 lead. Hartford's Jeff Tyron found the net after a run down the right sideline with the help of Anthony Santaga.
The Hawks controlled the game for most of the first half, but CCSU gained the momentum following the break.
Metellus got CCSU on the board early in the second period with his first goal of the season. After taking the ball away from Hartford, Metellus streaked up the middle of the field and launched a shot that found the net.
The game remained tied into the 85th minute when Hartford's Javoni Simms chipped in a goal with the help of Jeff Tryon.
Junior Josef Abele recorded three saves in goal for CCSU. Freshman Conor Qualter and senior Jose Gambo were both strong on defense. Qaulter made an excellent play heading out a shot attempt as Hartford attempted to score off a rebound when Abele was unable to secure the ball following a save late in the second half.
Shots were even at 11-11 for the match. Hartford held the advantage with six shots on goal to CCSU's five. Hartford also had a 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.
The Blue Devils return to action on Oct. 11 at the CCSU Soccer Field against LIU Brooklyn.


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Leigh Academies Trust has issued a statement regarding the reopening of schools. To read the letter, please click here.
The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. They enjoy exceptionally good relationships across all cultures, having many opportunities to find out about other communities across the world. Parents, carers and pupils are all extremely positive about safety in the school and pupils' active involvement in the safety of their environment ensures the pupils have an excellent understanding of risk.
Pupils' behaviour and attitudes to school are outstanding and pupils thoroughly enjoy school and learning in the extremely calm, harmonious and safe environment.


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Workspace: Collaborate Anywhere
What makes a workplace are the spaces within it. Learn how our solutions can be customized to
maximize any space where your people need to be productive.
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This year's Annual Dinner of the Friends of the P.I. Nixon Medical Historical Library was held on Thursday, November 5, 2015 at the Old San Francisco Steakhouse. One hundred and six registrants, including forty-eight students from the Health Science Center's five schools and the Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy, enjoyed an evening of dining and fellowship.
The highlight of the evening was Francine Mary Netter's informative and entertaining presentation on the life and work of her father, famous medical illustrator Frank Netter, MD. She shared family memories and personal anecdotes about this extremely talented man, as well as images of sketches and paintings outside the realm of anatomy. Following her presentation, Francine Netter signed copies of her book, Medicine's Michelangelo: The Life and Art of Frank H. Netter, MD.
For more information on the Friends of the P.I. Nixon Medical Historical Library, contact Lisa Matye Finnie, Special Collections Librarian, at email@example.com or 567-2406.
Tags: December 2015


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Doc Sweets' Candy Company LLC
Like being a kid again...only sweeter!
Greetings to you from
Doc Sweets' Candy Company!
Do you remember the days of visiting your neighborhood candy shop and buying bulk candy? It always tasted so good and these memories are some of the best times many people enjoyed as kids. Now you can enjoy that old fashioned candy once again! Doc Sweets', Michigan's largest retail candy store, is a gigantic candy wonderland filled with thousands upon thousands of different candy items!
Whatever your fancy, Doc Sweets' has it for you. Come see our extraordinary candy selection or shop for candy online. Doc Sweets' incredible candy assortment has something for everyone: from Abba Zaba to Wonka, Zagnut to Zotz, New or Old, Sugar Free or Super Sour, by the Pound or by the Piece, Doc Sweets' will satisfy all of your candy needs. Doc Sweets' also has a large selection of Nostalgic Candy items, everything from the early 1900's through today, including Candy Covered and Chocolate Coated Insects!
We're here for you anytime a candy craving strikes! We can satisfy your desire for wedding candy, chocolate, holiday candy, and candy for any occasion. For your convenience, Doc Sweets' is open 7 days a week, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sundays. Please come in and visit us. You will leave happy and relive some of the sweetest memories from your childhood.
Doc Sweets' is like being a kid again . . . Only Sweeter!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Have a Sweet Day!
Doc Sweets' Candy Company LLC
135 N. Rochester Road
Clawson, MI 48017
Phone: (248) 597-1051
Tuesday to Saturday: 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Closed on Mondays
Closed: New Years Day, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day
CLICK for Map and Directions


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Elvis World - Japan
Ben Weisman is certainly one of the most versatile and prolific songwriter/ musicians of all time. He's been equally at home writing rock and roll, country, jazz, pop or classical, and has even written marches a la Sousa. Weisman's recording statistics are staggering: over 60 gold records, record sales of over 75 million, 30 motion picture scores, and 57 songs recorded by Elvis Presley - all of which went gold or platinum, more than any other songwriter!
To add further luster to Weisman's credits, he is one of the few songwriters to bridge the gap between the music of the '50s up through the '90s. His '50's hit "Let Me Go Lover" earned him a place in music history as the songwriter of the first song ever to be popularized through the medium of television ("Studio One"). He received an Oscar for the Best Feature Length Documentary, The Young Americans, his "Concerto For Elvis" for piano was made into a ballet, and he performed on the CBS soap opera, "The Young And The Restless" for four years.
Some of Weisman's biggest hits include "Let Me Go Lover" (on the charts in the Top 20 four times in '55, with four different artists - Joan Weber, Teresa Brewer, Patti Page, Sunny Gale), Conway Twitty's "Lonely Blue Boy," "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes," sung by Bobby Vee, Reba McEntire's "Silly Me," and, of course, Elvis Presley's hits such as "Wooden Heart," "Rock-A-Hula Baby," "Follow That Dream," "Frankie And Johnny." Plus he had recordings from the major artists of every era and genre such as Barbra Streisand's "Love ln The Afternoon," the Beatles' "Lend Me Your Comb," "Johnny Mathis' "When I Am With You," Gladys Knight's "Love Gives You The Power," Cher's "I Love Making Love To You," "Nat "King" Cole's "Mother Nature And Father Time," June Pointer's "You Can Do It," Jim Reeves' "My Ups Are Sealed," "Dusty Springfield's "All I See Is You," and many, many others.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island and raised in Brooklyn, Weisman comes from a family with deep musical roots. At the age of five, under his father's supervision, he sang professionally at the neighborhood temple during the High Holy Holidays. In his teens, he was introduced to the classical world of Bach and Beethoven, and for five years studied with the concert pianist Grace Castagnetta. This led to study at New York's preshgious Juilliard School of Music. Next, Weisman's musical abilities were put to use by Uncle Sam - he was drafted and made Special Services Music Director for the U.S. Army Air Force. When his stint in the service was over, he returned to New York and began working playing piano and teaming up immediately with established songwriters. Because of his versatility, the doors of Tin Pan Alley quickly swung open for him.
However, one particular company, Hill and Range, pursued Wiesman to sign an
exclusive contract with them. This was the company that already had major big
band, country, and top pop chart hits, and was ready to enter the budding rock
market. Under the guidance of Hill and Range's leader, Jean Aberbach, Weisman
became a skilled craftsman and was on his way to the top of the charts...
"As I look back, it seems like yesterday...in the summer of 1956 I received a call from my music publisher, Jean Aberbach to come to his office to discuss Elvis Presley, a new singer he was about to represent. He asked me to watch the "Tommy Dorsey Television Show" on which Elvis would be performing. He said, 'Study his style.' Elvis, who had just signed with RCA, was going to be recording an album, and Aberbach wanted me to write for him.
"The first song I submitted for the project was entitled 'First In Line' and Elvis recorded it!"
"For my next assignment, I received a script called Jailhouse Rock for a new movie that Hal Wallis was going to produce at Paramount, starring Elvis.I soon found out that other writers under contract to my publisher had received the same script. The competition was fierce!
"After my collaborators and I completed the songs, we submitted them to Freddy Bienstock [now the head of a mega-publishing empire], who was in charge of selecting the ones to be sent to Hollywood, where they would be screened for Elvis.
"There were many songs competing for each scene. Finally I got the call from Freddie saying, 'Good News, "Don't Leave Me Now" is in!'"
"In 1957, I flew to Hollywood to finally meet Elvis. Our meeting was at Paramount Studios where he was recording the soundtrack for his film, Loving You. It was late in the day, and Elvis had already recorded quite a few songs.
"During a break in the session, I noticed Elvis sitting alone in the corner, adlibbing some blues on the guitar. I wandered over to the piano next to him, sat down and joined in. He didn't look up, kept on playing and even changed keys on me, but I followed along. Then he looked up with that smile he was famous for, and asked who I was and what I was doing in the studio? I told him I was invitedto the session and that I composed one of the songs he was about to record called 'Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do.' He immediately called out to his musicians, 'Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do,' and they recorded it on the spot.
"During the early period of those sessions, he would get so carried away, he would forget to sing directly into the mike. His close friends, the studio musicians, would start dancing around him, creating a great deal of excitement. It made a tremendous impression on me, and the feeling is still with me today. Little did I know that because of that meeting, I would end up writing fifty-seven songs for Elvis - more than any other songwriter. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined the impact he was about to make on the world."
"I was so into Elvis that I was always looking forward to the next assignment. The project that came next was a movie called Danny based on Harold Robbins' book, A Stone For Danny Fisher. The story took place in New Orleans, so I immediately did research on the street cries and sounds of that city.
"The first song I submitted was 'Danny' the title song. It was approved by the producer and recorded by Elvis. However, after the film was completed they decided to change the title to King Creole, and 'Danny' was eliminated from the film and putin the "can" (recordings of unreleased material). As fate would have it, I changed the title of the tune to 'Lonely Blue Boy' and, to my delight, Conway Twitty recorded it and made it the #1 hit in the country. It sold over a million records.
"Later, fate stepped in again, and the original version of 'Danny' sung by Elvis was released in his Legendary Album #3. To this day, my songs in King Creole are among my favorites."
"My next meeting with Elvis was in Philadelphia at his last concert before he entered the Army. Backstage, there were police standing by to escort him to his car. Before leaving, he said to me, 'Keep writing those hits.' Emphasizing hisstatement again with that very infectious smile. He was gone for a few years, but during that time I wrote with him in mind - waiting for his discharge.
"When Elvis returned from the service, he decided to record two of my songs. Oneof them, 'Fame And Fortune,' was his first post-Army single release. He introduced it on the 'Frank Sinatra Television Show,' which had a record-breaking rating. The people had missed him and loved him more than ever."
"G.I. Blues" was the first movie Elvis made after leaving the Army. As usual, we all received scripts, and once again the [songwriters] race was on. In this film, Elvis was in the service, stationed in Germany. There was a particular scene in the movie for which I thought it would be fun to write. In it, Elvis, who is in love with his leading lady, tries to convey his feelings to her by becoming the puppeteer at a puppet show, and singing, 'I don't have a wooden heart.' Hence the song 'Wooden Heart.' (An interesting side note: the big hit version of 'Wooden Heart' was sung by Joe Dowell, because RCA decided not to release Elvis'version in the U.S.)"
"Summer Kisses, Winter Tears' was written for Elvis' movie Flaming Star. It was a lovely ballad written to be sung by Elvis to his leading lady during a love scene. Unfortunately, the powers-that-be decided to have him sing it to a group of Indian sitting around a campfire smoking a peace pipe!
"At the preview, the audience broke into laughter when the scene occurred, and I don't blame them. As a result, the song was cut from the film. Over twenty years later in 1992, as fate would have it again, Elvis' recording was released in a Wim Wenders' film entitled Until The End Of The World, directed by David Lynch."
"Music for the film Blue Hawaii was a challenge. Because of the locate, I thought the music should have a Hawaiian flavor, but with a rock beat. At the time, the twist was very hot, and I found that the twist and the hula were perfect together. Out of that combination 'Rock-A-Hula Baby' was born."
"'Follow That Dream' was one of my favorite songs because of its upbeat message. It seems Bruce Springsteen, who is a big Elvis fan, agrees with me, because it is also one of his favorite Elvis songs. He sings his version of it at many of his concerts."
"I had just moved to Los Angeles, when I received a call from the producer of It Happened At The World's Fair to write a rousing song for the closingscene of the movie. It had to be ready overnight and recorded the next day! This was one of the rare 'Elvis' assignments without competition. Why? Because I wasthe only songwriter living in Los Angeles! So 'Happy Ending' closed the film in a marching band sequence."
WHY ELVlS RECORDED 57 Of MY SONGS
"I approached writing for Elvis differently than I did for any other artist. The songs had to have acombination of blues, country, rock and pop [what came to becalled 'rockabilly']. It was like walking in his musical shoes. With each new Elvis movie, more of my songs were being recorded. It became more and more exciting, for I was becoming the only songwriter to have so many songs recorded by him.
"After completing each song, I would make a demonstration (demo) record, using a singer that could copy Elvis' sound. I used the same type of rhythm section that he used, with the same type of vocal backgrounds. The end result was a tailor-made production, just for him.
"One of the first demo singers I hired was Otis Blackwell, who wrote such great Elvis songs as 'Don't Be Cruel,' 'All Shook Up,' and many more. Some of the other talented singers I found were Glen Campbell, Delaney Bramlett, P.J.Proby, Ray Peterson and Dorsey Burnette. Among the musicians who played on my demos were Phil Spector, Hal Blaine, Leon Russell, Larry Knechell, plus Ronnie Tutt, Glen D. Hardin and James Burton, who ended up in Elvis' band.
"My friendship with Elvis developed during the studio sessions in Hollywood, to which I was always invited to attend. Since they copied my demos note-for-note, Elvis liked to have me around in case there were any problems. He had a great sense of humor, and used to call me the 'Mad Professor.' He made the sessions fun. I remember one particular time when the conductor didn't show up for a session and I was elected to conduct, as well as work with Elvis on the vocals. The song was 'Frankie And Johnny' and I ended up producing it.
"The very last time I was with Elvis was in 1976 at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. It was the last show of the season. Elvis usually gave a farewell party after a show run was over. It must have been around 6:00 am, and the party was still going strong. He noticed me and came over. We chatted a while, and, in the course of our conversation, he asked how many songs of mine he had recorded. I replied, 'Fifty-seven.' He was so impressed with this number that he quieted the crowd and announced that he had recorded more of my songs than of any other songwriter's. With that, he gave me a big bear hug.
"Later on, Elvis and I found a quiet spot and had a nice talk about music, life and other things. Because this was our last meeting, I remember it with great affection."
Songs Ben Weisman wrote for Elvis


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